Who was that staffer? More importantly...who is in that West Point "think tank"?

No idea. Why don't you email the washingtontimes and ask?

Gee. What you can find out with a couple clicks on a mouse....

At the time of the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, West Point's counterterrorism curriculum consisted of a single elective class. In order to fill this gap and provide greater educational resources in terrorism-related issues, the Academy welcomed the creation of the Combating Terrorism Center and included it in its Department of Social Sciences on February 20, 2003. Though thus a part of the United States Military Academy, the CTC was established with private funding and is an independent research group. Primary funding for the founding of the CTC was contributed by Vincent Viola, a 1977 graduate of the United States Military Academy and former chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange; significant initial support was also provided by Ross Perot, George Gilmore Jr. and Major (ret.) George Gilmore Sr. The Center's first Distinguished Chair was General (Retired) Wayne Downing until his death in 2007. General (Retired) John P. Abizaid, the former commander of Central Command, presently holds the Distinguished Chair. The current director, Major Bryan C. Price, began his tenure in August 2012.

Curriculum Vitae EXPERT BIO Special thanks to the West Point Class of 1977 for generously supporting this position-

Arie Perliger is the Director of Terrorism Studies at the Combating Terrorism Center and Assistant Professor at the Department of Social Sciences, US Military Academy at West Point. After completing his PhD in Political Science at the University of Haifa Israel (2007), where he was also a fellow at the National Security Studies Center (NSSC), Dr. Perliger became affiliated with the Department of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem as a Golda Meir Post-Doctoral Fellow (2007-2008). On August 2008 Dr. Perliger joined the Department of Political Science at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where he was a Schusterman Visiting Assistant Professor until the summer of 2010.

In the past decade Dr. Perliger has studied extensively issues related to Terrorism and Political Violence, Politics of Security, Politics of the Far Right in Israel, Europe and the US, Middle Eastern Politics and the applicability of Social Network Analysis to the study of social phenomena. His studies appeared in four books and more than 20 articles and book chapters by publishers such as Columbia University Press, Rutledge, Security Studies, Social Forces and others.

Dr. Perliger is the co-editor of the journal Democracy and Security and a regular reviewer for various publishers and Journals such as Political Psychology, Critical Studies on Terrorism, Terrorism and Political Violence, Columbia University Press, Chicago University Press, Routledge and Polity Press.